37: together

Nila's hand searched for her phone and tapped the phone into snooze. For some strange reason, it felt like this wasn't the first time she was doing it that morning. A little crease formed on her forehead but when Vijay made a low groan by her side, she curled back into him and relaxed, a satisfied smile taking over her face. And Nila slept. Her head on her boyfriend's chest, deliciously wrapped in his firm arms while his palm rested on her back, underneath her shirt. Or his shirt. That she stole from him and let him borrow temporarily. Maybe she should just call it hers now.

Although the summer break ended, the summer sun seemed to be having other plans. It was fucking hot. The useless ceiling fan spun hot air around. The air conditioner at 18 Celsius was like a mild cold breeze. And Vijay ran hot easily. So, he had to sleep half-naked every night which Nila didn't... mind. Actually, she loved it. She was deeply grateful for the situation. Because pressing her face to his warm skin, listening to his heartbeat, was the best way to go to sleep.

The alarm rang again. Nila groaned and grabbed her phone. The light came as a harsh slap to her face and she squinted as she tried to off the damn thing permanently. Then her eyes fell onto the glaring time.

"Fuck."

She slapped Vijay's arms, making him turn around and curl the other side. "Vijay, wake up. We are late. We missed the sunrise. It's past five-thirty."

"Let me just sleep then," he mumbled. She climbed over him, making him groan and hold her hips.

"No, wake up! We are going to the beach. This is our last day together. You promised me that we'll spend every minute together."

Vijay hid his eyes with his arm. "Yeah, but it's not like we'll never see each other. We're going to be taking the same bus to college every day."

"It's not the same!" She cradled his face and lightly tapped his cheeks. "Come on. At least open your eyes and look at me."

Vijay slid his arms up her spine and with one swift move, he flipped her so that she was under him. She gasped. "What do you want, silver?" he asked, his eyes wide open, staring into hers. His voice was hoarse and sent shivers down her spine.

"I want to go to the beach."

"Then that's what we'll do." He kissed her cheek.

"Yes!" Nila grinned.

"But just give me five minutes," he said, pulling the sheets over him. Nila rolled her eyes and kicked his leg before climbing out of the bed and moving to the washroom. She went through her routine quickly, choosing to come back and take a shower. The sand from the beach would make her desperately want to shower anyway. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Vijay was still bundled up. She marched over to him and snatched the sheets away from him.

"Fuck, silver," he groaned before sitting up and running his hands through his hair. "I told you to give me five minutes."

"It's been more than five minutes, you idiot," she said, balling the sheet and throwing it back at him. "Get your ass out of the bed. If not, I'm sure there will be other hot men in the beach today." With that, she walked out into the kitchen to make some coffee.

Soon, Vijay was behind her, his arms around her waist, kissing her shoulders. "You can't just say shit like that and walk away," he mumbled. "I'm so sleepy. We should have slept early last night."

"And whose fault is that?" she said, making fresh decoction.

Vijay groaned and buried his face in her neck. A few minutes of utter silence maintained. She shook her shoulder. "Are you sleeping again? Vijay---"

"Oh. My. God."

Vijay and Nila spun around at the new voice.

"Wow," Anamika said, somehow magically standing inside their apartment. She must have used her key. "Please tell me you didn't have sex in my bed."

Nila turned red. "Why-Why would you think that? And why are you early? I thought you're coming in the afternoon."

"I fought with my brother and on a whim, took a late train in the night. That asshole just pisses me off so much," she said. "And have you looked at what you're wearing? Or the lack of it?"

Nila didn't wear pants. Vijay was in his shorts and nothing else.

"Hey, Anamika. Um, nice to meet you again?" Vijay offered, scratching the back of his neck.

Anamika glared at the both of them. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Um, I'll change the sheets?" Nila said, embarrassed to the point that she considered opening up the window and jumping off it.

"You know what? I'm not stepping inside that room. I'll crash in Priya's. We agreed that the one who dates should have a separate room and now that Priya broke up with her boyfriend, it's perfect. You can have that room all to yourself."

"Priya broke up?"

Anamika sighed, sitting on her suitcase. "Yeah. Her parents found out. It was a big mess."

Nila felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Vijay squeezed her arm. When she glanced at him, he gave her a nod. It'll be alright.

"Is she okay?"

"Last I spoke to her, she seemed to be handling it okay. I thought I'll ring her after I come back here. You should check in on her too," Anamika said.

Nila nodded.

"Vijay, deposit me in that room, can you?" Anamika asked Vijay and he nodded immediately, dragging her suitcase along with her to Priya's room.

"Are you sure you'll be okay there, bub? You don't exactly get along with Priya, if you've forgotten."

"She's tame now. I can handle her," Anamika waved carelessly.

"Do you want coffee?" Nila yelled again.

"No. I'm going to sleep. Don't be too loud. Goodnight," her friend yelled back as Vijay shut Priya's door behind him.

Vijay walked to Nila and took her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She smiled brightly for him.

"I know something is wrong so don't waste your time hiding it," he said, looping an arm over her head and dragging her to the sofa. He pulled her onto his lap.

"It's just that... maybe I've been a bad friend. I didn't text Priya during the break at all. But she was sending me snaps so I didn't feel like something was off. Anamika doesn't get along well with Priya but she knew about everything and I didn't. It feels like I didn't care enough. I don't know, I feel like I should've done better as a friend and a roommate."

Vijay rested his chin on her shoulder. "Maybe. Maybe you should've. But it wasn't like your break was painless. You were going through a lot too. I think you don't have to be so hard on yourself every time something happens, silver. Sometimes it's the situation, it's the people around and the timing. You can't blame everything on yourself. That's just selfishness."

She turned around and bit back a smile. "Why are you so good at this?"

"I'm born to be a lover," Vijay said, tipping his chin.

"My lover?"

"Sure. I don't mind," he said, earning a small slap on his chest. He caught her wrist and kissed her palm. "Would you like a demonstration? Perhaps in the bedroom?"

She chuckled. "You can't just get enough, do you?"

"Not with you," he said, carrying her back into the bedroom.

"What about the beach?"

"Be honest. Do you still want to go?"

Nila pouted. "I mean... we already made plans. The beach, Mylapore filter coffee, Sambar idly at Ratna café, come back and wash up, watch a movie, order takeout and come back home. It was such a good plan."

"Yeah, it was a good plan. I'll tell you what is a good plan," he smiled, kicking the door shut behind him. "How about we'll spend the whole day lazing around, cooking together, maybe bully Anamika into playing a board game with us and watching your favourite film?"

"But we've already watched my favourite movie."

"I'm sure you'll think of something else," he said, dropping her on the bed and climbing over her.

"Can we watch Mouna Ragam?"

"Whatever my girl wants." He pressed a kiss on her jaw.

"Can we play Monopoly?"

"Like I said, whatever my girl wants." He pressed a kiss on her throat.

Nila coiled her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. "Hmm, I'm really liking the sound of that."

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Nila couldn't believe summer break was already over. It felt like it just began. She'd spent too many days sulking and too little enjoying it. It was sad. Besides that, Nila was having major withdrawal symptoms. In hindsight, having a sleepover with Vijay for a week straight might have been a very bad idea. Now she couldn't go to sleep without his warmth by his side, his palm on her and the sound of his breathing. She woke up to an empty bed this morning and stared at the space Vijay had been taking up. He'd left his shampoo in her bathroom and even that reminded her of how much she loved him and missed him. All she wanted was to glue herself to his arms.

Was this normal? Was she going through a syndrome or something?

Was this what everyone called the 'honeymoon phase'? Or was it too late to be called that?

Nila packed his perfume and a few of his t-shirts that he'd put for wash the previous day. She quickly ate a bowl of tomato rice and soft-boiled eggs into her mouth and rushed out of her flat. She was running late and she had to stop by the printer shop to get all her reports printed too. Nila regretted not doing it earlier. God, there were so many days in her break when she'd done nothing. But of course not. She had to save all this work for the D-day and torture herself.

The printer shop took ten minutes and after stuffing everything in her binder, she speed-walked to the bus stop. She'd seen the text notification pop on her screen a few minutes earlier. Next stop is yours, Vijay had texted. She hoped to God she hadn't missed the bus. But if she had, Vijay would've definitely texted or waited for her at her bus stop.

Nila tapped her foot anxiously, the bag on her shoulder starting to leave marks on her shoulders. When most of them at the bus stop suddenly rushed forward, she knew there was a bus coming and... thank god, it was 29X. Her bus. It had been a while since she travelled in crowded buses so the slanting bus made her stomach churn. She had forgotten to ask which side Vijay was on. And it was too late. Ugh.

As soon as the bus halted and the doors groaned open, she took a deep breath and pushed in. No mercy. That was her motto when it came to crowded buses.

She got in and as soon as she found a handle to hold, she searched for a certain someone. Nila couldn't find him anywhere. Where the fuck was he?

The bus lurched forward as the driver pressed the brakes. Nila felt her hold on the handle slipping from the impact. Oh fuck, she thought, but a firm arm wrapped around her waist and helped her feet stay glued to the floor. For some reason, her body didn't react the way it should to invasive gestures. When she turned around, she found Vijay, watching her with a soft smile.

"Hi," he whispered, one hand holding the handlebar on the top and the other holding her waist. "Think you smudged your lipstick again, silver. If you show up to college like that, your friends are going to think I'm the reason and I don't like to take credit for things I didn't do."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. Teasing me is the first thing you do when you see me?"

"No, I saved you from face-planting into that Aunty's back."

"You're insufferable. Tone it down today, please."

"No can do," he said cheekily, sliding her bag from her shoulders and slipping it onto his. "But I wasn't lying. Your lipstick is really smudged."

"What? Where? Wipe it off!"

Vijay chuckled at her sharp tone. "Okay. Hold onto something cause I'm letting you go." He removed his arms from her waist and she immediately held on to his shoulders. Vijay quickly wiped the stain off the corner of her lips.

"It's gone?"

"Yup. It's gone. Congrats. You don't look like the world's most adorable clown."

"Such a douchebag. It's like you've regressed to a year back."

"But come on. Don't you miss it?" he asked.

"What's there to miss? You act like this every day," she said with a hint of a smile.

He shrugged. "Fair enough."

Nila glanced at him and smiled. "I love you. Despite everything."

"I know. And I love you too, silver."

Just then the conductor came towards them. His eyes dropped to Nila's hand gripping Vijay's shoulder instead of the handlebar and him holding her other hand. Nila braced for a stink eye or some rude comment but he only smiled and said, "Two tickets?"

Vijay nodded, looked at Nila and smiled.

"Yes, two tickets, please."

THE END

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a/n: hey everyone, i wanted to write a full circle ending for nila and vijay before i even began writing their story. i finished this at 2am and i was such a mess — tearing up but didn't know what for. it's been such a special journey writing these two. i started the story back in february and finally completed it in october. wednesday's are not gonna be me stressing about completing the chapter anymore and thursdays are not going to be giggling at your comments. both of these days are going to return to being mundane :( anyways, thank you for being here till the end. i sincerely hope you loved reading too.

about the epilogue: i know there is one other big conflict remaining in Vijay and Nila's story. i really didn't want to make that argument as a main conflict so i chose to keep it simple and address it in epilogue. as i've mentioned before, the epilogue is futuristic so you get the final happily every after for vijay and nila there.

it'll be posted by next week or less but the catch is that it won't be posted on wattpad. i've been wanting to experiment with scrollstack but i've been putting it off because i didn't want to disappoint you all by making the chapters paid. but i'm taking a leap here. i've chosen to do this after a lot of consideration so i'd appreciate your support. however, the epilogue will be posted a month later on wattpad. thank you so much.

stay magical.

love,

caramelstreet